The Namibia Competition Commission (NaCC) says it will keep a close eye on commercial banks to monitor anti-competitive practices on property valuation.
The competition watchdog’s concerns come after it was established that there were barriers hindering property valuer entrants and existing ones that are not enlisted by banks.
The Commission arrived at this decision after engaging the Minister of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform as the custodian of the Property Valuers Profession Act No.7 of 2012, with a proposal on how to provide effective redress.
“The Commission wishes to emphasise that it will be monitoring developments in the industry for possible anticompetitive practices which may thereafter come under competition law scrutiny. The Commission, therefore, reserves its rights to initiate an investigation of any possible anti-competitive practices in future, should the need arise,” NaCC spokesperson Dina //Gowases said.
“The Commission assessed the complaint and notes that there exist structural barriers to enter the market by virtue of the absence of the establishment and operationalisation of the Namibian Council for the Property Valuers Profession in terms of the Property Valuers Profession Act No.7 of 2012,” //Gowases stated.
This comes following complaints from the property valuation industry about allegations that four commercial banks’ actions create barriers to entry for external valuers who are not part of these banks’ property valuers’ panels.
//Gowases said in May 2022, the Commission received a complaint from the property valuation industry, alleging that the four commercial banks, Bank Windhoek, First National Bank, Nedbank and Standard Bank are market participants in the property valuation market, who sometimes make use of internal valuers to determine estimated values of assets in property transactions.
As such the commercial banks disregarded valuations that are done by external valuers who are not part of the four commercial banks’ property valuers’ panels, or valuers that are not employed at the respective banks or on their list of approved property valuers.
//Gowases added that the complaint detailed current market conditions that valuers compete in as not competitive as they do not allow for fair competition and there exist barriers to entry for newly graduated property valuers.
“It is further alleged that the barriers to entry exist through the requirements that valuers must meet in order to be placed on some of the bank valuers lists. Some banks require prior experience, and this makes it difficult for newly qualified valuers to enter the market as this enlisting is the gateway to acquiring the required experience,” she charged.
Following the Commission’s assessment, it was established that the obstacles exist because of the absence of a Council which has led to the banks employing their own quality assurance measures as risk mitigation when it comes to property valuations.
“These measures are in the form of enlistment requirements that independent property valuers must comply with in order to perform property valuation work on behalf of the banks,” she said.
The Council in terms of its powers and functions once operationalised, will be to serve as a central industry requirements determinant, in terms of both registration and designation of property valuers, as well as the education requirements which will be applicable to all prospective valuers.
“In the absence of the Council, market participants are principally the determinants of such requirements, which vary according to each market participant, and as such are alleged to currently impede the growth and entry into the said market,” she reasoned.
